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| Photo Credit: R. Ragu

The rupee appreciated 5 paise to 83.24 against the U.S. dollar in early trade on May 31 boosted by robust sentiment in domestic equity markets and a downward trend in the crude oil prices overseas.

Forex traders said, however, strong American currency and unabated outflow of foreign capital weighed on the local unit.

Also, they said market participants are expected to take cues from domestic macroeconomic data to be released later in the day.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 83.25 and gained further to trade at 83.24 against the greenback in initial deals, registering an increase of 5 paise from its previous closing level.

On Thursday, the rupee gained 11 paise to close at 83.29 against the U.S. dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.13 per cent higher at 104.79.

The latest US GDP data released on Thursday showed the world’s largest economy grew at a slower pace of 1.3% against the projected 1.6% in the January-March quarter. This triggered expectations of interest rate reduction by the Federal Reserve.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.38% to USD 81.55 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 500.19 points, or 0.68% higher at 74,385.79 points. The broader NSE Nifty soared 143.80 points or 0.64% to 22,632.45 points in initial trade.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Thursday, selling shares worth ₹3,050.15 crore, according to exchange data.